Auto shows are great opportunities for OEMs to showcase the latest and greatest in automotive innovation. Media, government officials and automotive enthusiasts and professionals alike flock to the show floor to discover different brands’ contributions to the automotive space, be it through intelligent vehicle design or groundbreaking automotive technologies. The challenge at these events is for automotive OEMs and suppliers to find unique and compelling ways to tell their stories to not only draw traffic to their booths, but to also keep attendees engaged, building brand rapport and loyalty, and ultimately, sales.

This year at the Los Angeles Auto Show, our client FIAT USA wanted to do just that, with a focus on the 2016 124 Spider. The brand wanted to create an engaging experience around this new vehicle, which would build brand awareness with the ultimate goal of fostering an emotional connection with the brand.

With these objectives in mind, we got to work. The end result? A custom, interactive video game experience using an XBox Kinect called “The Eagle Has Landed,” complete with a custom mobile app for FIAT USA to collect valuable consumer data, such as name, email and each user’s favorite vehicle features. The game was built by Elam Daly. The app was created by Alex Harrison.

Inspired by FIAT USA’s “Free Like A Bird” advertising campaign, the game offers each participant a bird’s eye view, transforming users into the eagle from the campaign. The goal of the game is for players to land on the back of the 124 Spider, which drives through twisting and turning roads, just like in the ad.

Participants are instructed to spread their wings (arms) and control the eagle by leaning left, right, forward, or backward to turn, dive, climb and ultimately catch the 124 Spider on the road. Spectators watching see video graphics on the screen that showcase the best products and the “why buy” features of the vehicle. In addition, the Kinect camera snaps up to 10 photos of the guest as they attempt to land.

Once 60 seconds elapses, the ambassador uses a custom ICON tablet app to quickly generate an animated GIF of the player, which were shared on ICON’s Twitter channel. Users were also given the option to email the GIF to themselves through the app.

“After getting their GIF, users are prompted several questions about their overall experience at LA Auto Show and with FIAT. This user information is then stored and viewable in a second Analytics App,” explained Alex.

Guests were asked if they had fun and how they felt about the 124 Spider, with a gauge between 1 and 5. Guests were also asked about their favorite feature of the 124 Spider. The results show a successful and fun experience for participants, and also glean valuable insights for the client about the 124 Spider.

We cannot wait to implement more of these types of experiences for our clients in the future.

“It was a fun project!” said Elam. “We enjoyed building it as much as auto show guests enjoyed playing it!”